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I’m skeptical. The man is a machine. I doubt he took a summer off to fuck randoms and get plastered.
“You should do it,” Linda pushes. “The two of you and maybe Max and Evie? Carm’s brother and his girlfriend? It would be fun, and you deserve to have some fun.” Linda’s hand takes her daughter’s across the table, and she stares into Bella’s eyes.
It feels like the moment is about more than just a mother wanting her daughter to have a fun summer. There’s a secret between them.
My eyebrows furrow.
“I’ll think about it. Thank you, Greg, but please allow us to pay something.”
He thinks it over. “How about half?”
Bella blows out a breath. “We’ll see.”
Her phone rings and she quickly silences it, stuffing it back into her purse.
“Please, sweetie, take Greg up on his offer. You need to get time away from work.”
Bella nods, but her eyes plead for her mom to stop pushing.
I steer the conversation back to business, and before I realize it, I’ve paid the bill and the four of us are getting up from the table.
Bella and Linda hang back, discussing their plans for tomorrow. I overhear Linda apologize for not being able to spend as much time as she would’ve liked with her daughter.
We all say our goodbyes outside. Greg’s driver pulls up, so he and Linda get in the vehicle, leaving me with Bella.
“I’m going to walk,” she says.
It’s unusual for it to be so hot in May in the city, but I’m not complaining. I hate the fucking cold. “I’ll join you.”
She stops at the corner. “I’m good. But thanks.”
“We’re going to the same place,” I say. Our building is at least ten blocks away, but I can tell she’s heading toward Central Park and figure she’s cutting through.
Justin’s texted me ten times already, probably thinking I’m hungover in bed and forgot my appointment. I should forget Bella and get a jump start on Greg’s properties. He said he’ll have someone send us all the information before we’ve returned to the office. But I can tell that Bella’s rattled, and something in me feels the need to make sure she’s okay.
“I’m going with you. You can choose to talk to me or not.” I shrug and she doesn’t respond.
Sure enough, she steps off the curb, crosses the street, and concrete and steel are replaced with green grass, lush gardens, and the sounds of musical instruments. We pass a saxophonist, and Bella drops a few dollars into his case. He switches gears into a special tune, and she smiles at him, bowing her head.
We remain side by side, our footsteps in unison for what feels like eternity. I’m a talker, so being next to someone and feeling as though I can’t say a word is excruciating.
“She’s always like this,” she says out of nowhere as we pass a small child with a bag of food for the ducks. Bella’s voice is so quiet, I almost think she’s talking to him at first.
“Your mom? Like what?”
“Obsessed. He’s the center of her universe until he breaks her heart.” She stops to stand on a bridge overlooking the stream, staring down as if there’s a show to watch. “She just. Ugh!” Her fists tighten at her sides. “She believes in all that shit.”
“What shit?”
“True love. Soul mates. The entire love story. She spins everything to make her believe he’s her prince. He’s not a fucking prince. He’s a city developer with so much money he could start a whole chain of her bakeries and not give one shit whether they survive or not. Now he wants to throw me this bone and give me a floor to prove myself, not to mention the house in the Hamptons. I’m not twelve. I won’t be calling him Daddy if that’s what he thinks.”
I’m not sure where to go from here. Enzo would give her some solid advice. Dom would stay silent, not wanting to deal with anything resembling feelings. My impulse is to wrap my arms around her and tell her I get it. But I don’t. My parents have been happily married for almost forty years.
“Then enjoy it while it lasts. It’s his choice to give you this opportunity and the house in the Hamptons.”
She swivels away from the water and I match her pose, both our backs resting on the cement bridge. “Watch me succeed and then he loses interest. The men my mom finds always lose interest.”
That felt like a knife to the chest. I know she’s talking about Greg, but I also know what Bella thinks of me. Maybe she’s thinking that he’s just like me. Annie’s already made it clear that’s how she sees me. Why wouldn’t Bella?
